Rebounding: blockers and crashers

I was talking with my old friend Bob Butler yesterday about rebounding. For the last few seasons I've ignored box outs almost completely, with the exception of after a foul shot. Instead, I've put tremendous emphasis on going to the boards every time. This means during all drills and game situations. There were several reasons. For starters, through a series of circumstances I didn't have the same team two years in a row. I chose to spend more time on shooting and I found more time by cutting box out drills. The other part was that I wasn't satisfied with how things had been working out and I wanted to try something else.

The first team I tried this with was the Quebec High School junior girls. To my surprise, things worked out. We shot a lot better and we got more rebounds. I compensated for the lack of drill time by insisting even more than usual that we go to the boards on every shot. On offense I sent everyone but the 1, unless she shot, in which case the 2 stayed back. On defense I sent everyone to the boards.

I did the same thing when I coached the senior girls at the International School of Brussels. They were older and tougher and could take the sprints that were imposed if someone didn't go to the boards. My philosophy was that everyone who wasn't stopping the fast break had to be moving to the basket when the shot went up. Eventually, we became a very good rebounding team. I continued with this philosophy when I ended up back on Prince Edward Island.

I never got the chance to see what would happen a second year as work got in the way. Bob and I were talking and I asked us both the question what would we choose if our players could only crash the boards or box out. I admit my thought was that he would say that going to the boards would pay off more. The truth is, at the university level there are some players that have to be boxed out. I had a flash, thinking back to an article I read about how Bill Belichick assigns roles. For example, Lawrence Taylor was a pass rusher and Henry Carson had the role of run stopper.

How about if players were designated as either crashers or boxers. For example, most posts would be boxers. This would have the advantage of building in some box outs while having the smalls crashing the boards. Part of my idea is that it is easier to get after players when they know their roles. I wonder......